The invention relates to skin-derived precursor (SKP) cells, and method of using such cells.
While adult mammalian stem cells were previously thought only to differentiate into cells of their tissue of origin, a number of recent reports have identified cultured adult stem cells that show a surprisingly diverse differentiation repertoire. Although at least some reports of multipotency are due to unanticipated cellular fusion events that occurred in vivo, compelling evidence still exists for the multipotency of a number of cultured adult stem cell populations. Perhaps the most striking examples of this multipotency derive from blastocyst injection studies, where both multipotent adult progenitor cells were isolated following long-term culture of bone marrow cells and neural stem cells from the central nervous system contributed to many different developing tissues.
We have previously identified one such multipotent precursor cell population from adult mammalian dermis. These cells, termed SKPs for skin-derived precursors, can be isolated and expanded from rodent and human skin, and differentiate into both neural and mesodermal progeny, including into cell types that are never found in skin, such as neurons.